The Australian team has played 773 Test matches, winning 362, losing 205, drawing 204 and tying two.[6] Australia is ranked the number-one team overall in Test cricket in terms of overall wins, win-loss ratio and wins percentage. As at 10 January 2015, Australia is ranked second in the ICC Test Championship on 118 rating points, 6 points behind South Africa.[7]

The team was undefeated in 34 consecutive World Cup matches until 19 March at the 2011 Cricket World Cup where Pakistan beat them by 4 wickets.[9] Australia have also won the ICC Champions Trophy twice – in 2006 and in 2009 – making them the first and the only team to become back to back winners in the Champions Trophy tournaments. The team has also played 39 Twenty20 Internationals,[10] making the final of the 2010 ICC World Twenty20, which they lost to England.

As of 1 March 2015, the Australian cricket team is ranked second in Tests, first in ODIs and fourth in T20Is by the ICC.[1]

A highlight of Australia's early history was the 1882 Test match against England at The Oval. In this match Fred Spofforth took 7/44 in the game's fourth innings to save the match by preventing England from making their 85-run target. After this match The Sporting Times, a major newspaper in London at the time, printed a mock obituary in which the death of English cricket was proclaimed and the announcement made that "the body was cremated and the ashes taken to Australia." This was the start of the famous Ashes series in which Australia and England play a Test match series to decide the holder of the Ashes. To this day, the contest is one of the fiercest rivalries in sport.

Victor Trumper became one of Australia's first sporting heroes, and was widely considered Australia's greatest batsman before Bradman and one of the most popular players. He played a record (at the time) number of tests at 49, and scored 3163 (another record) runs at a high for the time average of 39.04. His early death in 1915 at the age of 37 from kidney disease caused national mourning. The Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, in its obituary for him, called him Australia's greatest batsman: "Of all the great Australian batsmen Victor Trumper was by general consent the best and most brilliant."[11]

The 1930 Tour of England heralded a new age of success for the Australian team. The team, led by Bill Woodfull – the "Great Un-bowlable" – featured legends of the game including Bill Ponsford, Stan McCabe, Clarrie Grimmett and the young pair of Archie Jackson and Don Bradman. Bradman was the outstanding batsman of the series, scoring a record 974 runs, including one century, two double centuries and one triple century, a massive score of 334 at Leeds which including 309 runs in a day. Jackson died of tuberculosis at the age of 24 three years later, after playing eight tests. The team was widely considered unstoppable, winning nine of its next ten Tests.

The 1932–33 England tour of Australia is considered one of the most infamous episodes of cricket, due to the England team's use of bodyline, where captain Douglas Jardine instructed his bowlers Bill Voce and Harold Larwood to bowl fast, short-pitched deliveries aimed at the bodies of the Australian batsmen. The tactic, although effective, was widely considered by Australian crowds as vicious and unsporting. Injuries to Bill Woodfull, who was struck over the heart, and Bert Oldfield, who received a fractured skull (although from a non-Bodyline ball), exacerbated the situation, almost causing a full-scale riot from the 50 000 fans at the Adelaide Oval for the Third Test. The conflict almost escalated into a diplomatic incident between the two countries, as leading Australian political figures, including the Governor of South Australia, Alexander Hore-Ruthven, protested to their English counterparts. The series ended in a 4–1 win for England, but the Bodyline tactics used were banned the year after.

The Australian team managed to overcome the damaging series, winning their next tour of England in 1934. The team was led by Bill Woodfull on his final tour, and was notably dominated by Ponsford and Bradman, who twice put on partnerships of over 380 runs, with Bradman once again scoring a triple-century at Leeds. The bowling was dominated by the spin pair of Bill O'Reilly and Clarrie Grimmett, who took 53 wickets between them, with O'Reilly twice taking seven wicket hauls.

Sir Donald Bradman is widely considered the greatest batsman of all time.[12][13] He dominated the sport from 1930 until his retirement in 1948, setting new records for the highest score in a test innings (334 vs England at Headingley in 1930), the most number of runs (6996), the most number of centuries (29), the most number of double centuries and the greatest Test and first-class batting averages. His record for the highest Test batting average – 99.94 – has never been beaten. It is almost 40 runs above the next highest average. He would have finished with an average of over 100 runs per innings if he had not been dismissed for a duck in his last Test. He was knighted in 1949 for services to cricket. He is generally considered one of Australia's greatest sporting heroes.

Test cricket was again interrupted by war, with the last Test series in 1938 made notable by Len Hutton making a world record 364 for England, with Chuck Fleetwood-Smith conceding 298 runs in England's world record total of 7–903. Ross Gregory, a notable young batsman who played two Tests before the war, was killed in the war.

The team continued its success after the end of the Second World War, with the first Test (also Australia's first against New Zealand) being played in the 1945–46 season against New Zealand. Australia was by far the most successful team of the 1940s, being undefeated throughout the decade, winning two Ashes series against England and its first Test series against India. The team capitalised on its ageing stars Bradman, Sid Barnes, Bill Brown and Lindsay Hassett while new talent, including Ian Johnson, Don Tallon, Arthur Morris, Neil Harvey, Bill Johnston and the fast bowling pair of Ray Lindwall and Keith Miller, who all made their debut in the latter half of the 1940s, and were to form the basis of the team for a good part of the next decade. The team that Don Bradman led to England in 1948 gained the moniker The Invincibles, after going through the tour without losing a single game. Of 31 first-class games played during the tour, they won 23 and drew 8, including winning the five match Test series 4–0, with one draw. The tour was particularly notable for the Fourth Test of the series, in which Australia won by seven wickets chasing a target of 404, setting a new record for the highest runchase in Test cricket, with Arthur Morris and Bradman both scoring centuries, as well as for the final Test in the series, Bradman's last, where he finished with a duck in his last innings after needing only four runs to secure a career average of 100.

Australia was less successful in the 1950s, losing three consecutive Ashes series to England, including a horrendous 1956 Tour of England, where the 'spin twins' Laker and Lock destroyed Australia, taking 61 wickets between them, including Laker taking 19 wickets in the game (a first-class record) at Leeds, a game dubbed Laker's Match.

However, the team rebounded to win five consecutive series in the latter half of the 1950s, first under the leadership of Ian Johnson, then Ian Craig and Richie Benaud. The series against the West Indies in the 1960–61 season was notable for the Tied Test in the first game at The Gabba, which was the first in Test cricket. Australia ended up winning the series 2–1 after a hard fought series that was praised for its excellent standards and sense of fair-play. Stand-out players in that series as well as through the early part of the 1960s were Richie Benaud, who took a then-record number of wickets as a leg-spinner, and who also captained Australia in 28 Tests, including 24 without defeat; Alan Davidson, who became the first player to take 10 wickets and make 100 runs in the same game in the first Test, and was also a notable fast-bowler; Bob Simpson, who also later captained Australia for two different periods of time; Colin McDonald, the first-choice opening batsman for most of the 1950s and early '60s; Norm O'Neill, who made 181 in the Tied Test; Neil Harvey, towards the end of his long career; and Wally Grout, an excellent wicket-keeper who died at the age of 41.

The Centenary Test was played in March 1977 at the MCG to celebrate 100 years since the first Test was played. Australia ended winning by 45 runs, an identical result to the first Test match.[14]

In May 1977 Kerry Packer announced he was organising a breakaway competition – World Series Cricket (WSC) – after the Australian Cricket Board (ACB) refused to accept Channel Nine's bid to gain exclusive television rights to Australia's Test matches in 1976. Packer secretly signed leading international cricketers to his competition, including 28 Australians. Almost all of the Australian Test team at the time were signed to WSC – notable exceptions including Gary Cosier, Geoff Dymock, Kim Hughes and Craig Serjeant – and the Australian selectors were forced to pick what was generally considered a third-rate team from players in the Sheffield Shield. Former player Bob Simpson, who had retired 10 years previously after a conflict with the board, was recalled at the age of 41 to captain Australia against India. Jeff Thomson was named deputy in a team that included seven debutants. Australia managed to win the series 3–2, mainly thanks to the batting of Simpson, who scored 539 runs, including two centuries; and the bowling of Wayne Clark, who took 28 wickets. Australia lost the next series—against the West Indies, which was fielding a full team—3–1, and also lost the 1978–79 Ashes series 5–1, the team's worst Ashes result in Australia. Graham Yallop was named as captain for the Ashes, with Kim Hughes taking over for the 1979–80 tour of India.Rodney Hogg still managed to take 41 wickets in his debut series, an Australian record. WSC players returned to the team for the 1979–80 season after a settlement between the ACB and Kerry Packer. Greg Chappell was reinstated as captain.

Australia continued its success up until the early 1980s, built around Bob Simpson, the Chappell brothers, Dennis Lillee, Jeff Thomson and Rod Marsh. The 1980s was a period of relative mediocrity after the turmoil caused by the Rebel Tours of South Africa and the subsequent retirement of several key players. The rebel tours were funded by the South African Cricket Board to compete against its national side, which had been banned—along with many other sports, including Olympic athletes—from competing internationally, due to the South African government's racist apartheid policies. Some of Australia's best players were poached: Graham Yallop, Carl Rackemann, Terry Alderman, Rodney Hogg, Kim Hughes, John Dyson, Greg Shipperd, Steve Rixon and Steve Smith amongst others. These players were handed three-year suspensions by the Australian Cricket Board which greatly weakened the player pool for the national sides, as most were either current representative players or on the verge of gaining honours.

Under the captaincy of Allan Border and the new fielding standards put in place by new coach Bob Simpson, the team was restructured and gradually rebuilt their cricketing stocks. Some of the rebel players returned to the national side after serving their suspensions, including Trevor Hohns, Carl Rackemann and Terry Alderman. During these lean years, it was the batsmen Border, David Boon, Dean Jones, the young Steve Waugh and the bowling feats of Alderman, Bruce Reid, Craig McDermott, Merv Hughes and to a lesser extent, Geoff Lawson who kept the Australian side afloat.

The 1990s and early 21st century were arguably Australia's most successful period, unbeaten in all Ashes series played bar the famous 2005 series and achieving a hat-trick of World Cups. This success has been attributed to the restructuring of the team and system by Border, successive aggressive captains, and the effectiveness of several key players, most notably Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne, Justin Langer, Matthew Hayden, Steve Waugh, Adam Gilchrist, Michael Hussey and Ricky Ponting. Following the 2006/07 Ashes series which Australia won 5 nill, Australia slipped in the rankings after the retirements of a key players. In the 2013/14 Ashes series Australia again defeated England 5 nill, and climbed back to 3rd on the ICC International Test Rankings. In February & March 2014 Australia beat the number 1 team in the world South Africa 2–1, and were re-ranked number 1 in the world. The Australian team was marred by the death of Phillip Hughes on November 27, 2014. As of December 2014 Australia are ranked 2nd in Test Cricket and 1st in ODI Cricket.

For Test matches, the team wears Cricket Whites, with an optional sweater or sweater-vest with a green and gold V-neck for use in cold weather. The sponsor's (currently Commonwealth Bank for Home Test matches and Victoria Bitter for Away Test matches) logo is displayed on the right side of the chest while the Cricket Australia coat-of-arms is displayed on the left. If the sweater is being worn the coat-of-arms is displayed under the V-neck and the sponsor's logo is again displayed on the right side of the chest.[15] The baggy green, the Australian cricket cap, is considered an essential part of the cricketing uniform and as a symbol of the national team, with new players being presented with one upon their selection in the team. The helmet also prominently displays the Australian cricketing coat-of-arms. At the end of 2011, ASICS was named the manufacture the whites and limited over uniforms from Adidas, with the ASICS logo being displayed on the shirt and pants. Players may choose any manufacturer for their other gear (bat, pads, shoes, gloves, etc.).

In One Day International cricket and Twenty20 International cricket, the team wears uniforms usually coloured green and gold, the national colours of Australia. There have been a variety of different styles and layouts used in both forms of the limited-overs game, with coloured clothing (sometimes known as "pyjamas") being introduced for World Series Cricket in the late 1970s. The sponsors' logos (the Carlton Mid for Home ODIs, KFC for Home Twenty20s and Victoria Bitter for Away ODIs and Away Twenty20) are prominently displayed on the shirts and other gears. The Current Home ODI Kit consists of green as the primary colour and gold as the secondary colour. The Away Kit is the opposite of the Home Kit with gold as the primary colour and green as the secondary colour. The Home Twenty20s uniform consists of navy blue with the natural colours of Australia, green and gold strips.[16]

For the 2012–13 season Cricket Australia's National Selection Panel (NSP) have announced 17 players contracted to the national side from which selectors choose Test, One-Day and Twenty20 International teams. Salaries are based on a player ranking system decided by the NSP as well as match fees, tour fees and prize money for on-field success. The base retainer for the lowest ranked player is A$230,000 in 2012–13[17] Uncontracted players remain eligible for selection and can be upgraded to a Cricket Australia contract if they gain regular selection. The players contracted for the 2014–15 season are shown in bold. Players in italics represent players selected for 2015 Cricket World Cup. However, since Michael Clarke has been carrying a hamstring and back injuries at the time of the announcement, he could be replaced by the second match of the tournament.

Australia have been involved in the only two Tied Tests played. The first occurred against the West Indies at Brisbane in December 1960.[22] The second occurred against India at Madras in September 1986.[23]

Australia is the most successful Test team in cricketing history. It has won more than 350 Test matches at a rate of almost 47%. The next best performance is by South Africa at 36%.[24]

Australia's largest victory in a Test match came on 24 February 2002. Australia defeated South Africa by an innings and 360 runs in Johannesburg.[25]

Australia holds the record for most consecutive wins with 16. This has been achieved twice; from October 1999 to February 2001, and from December 2005 to January 2008.[26]

Australia shares the record for most consecutive series victories winning 9 series from October 2005 to June 2008. This record is shared with England.[27]

Australia have won the ICC Test Championship 6 times since it started – 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008.[citation needed]

Australia's highest total in a Test match innings was recorded at Kingston, Jamaica against the West Indies in June 1955. Australia posted 758/8 in their first innings with five players scoring a century.[28]

Australia's lowest total in a Test match innings was recorded at Birmingham against England in May 1902. Australia were bowled all out for 36.[29]

Australia are the only team to have lost a Test after enforcing the follow-on, having been the losing side in all three such matches:[30]

Charles Bannerman faced the first ball in Test cricket, scored the first runs in Test cricket and scored the first test century and half-century.[citation needed]

Charles Bannerman also scored 67.34% of the Australian first innings total in match 1. This record remains to this day as the highest percentage of an innings total that has been scored by a single batsman.[32]

Ricky Ponting is the first ever Australian batsman in history to pass 12,000 and 13,000 Test runs.

Matthew Hayden holds the record for the most runs in a single innings by an Australian with 380 in the first test against Zimbabwe at Perth in October 2003.

Donald Bradman holds the record for the highest average by an Australian (or any other) cricketer with a remarkable average of 99.94. Bradman played 52 tests and struck 29 centuries and 13 fifties in them.[34]

Ricky Ponting holds the record for the most centuries by an Australian cricketer with 41. Former Australian captain Steve Waugh is in second position with 32 centuries from 260 innings.[35]

Allan Border holds the record for the most fifties by an Australian cricketer with 63 in 265 innings.[35]

Adam Gilchrist holds the record of 2nd fastest hundred and fastest hundred by an Australian. He also holds the record of most successful keeper and took as many catches for Australia and second only to South Africa's Boucher.[35]

Australia's highest total in a One Day International innings is 434/4 scored off 50 overs against South Africa at Johannesburg on 12 March 2006. This was a world record before the South Africans surpassed this score in the same match.[45]

Australia's lowest total in a One Day International innings is 70. This score has occurred twice. Once against New Zealand in 1986, and once against England in 1977.[46]

Australia's largest victory in a One Day International is 256 runs. This occurred against Namibia at the 2003 World Cup in South Africa.[47]

Australia have won the ICC ODI Championship 8 times since it started – 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010.[citation needed]

Australia are the only team in the history of the World Cup to win 3 consecutive tournaments dated back in 1999, 2003 and 2007.

Australia were undefeated in the World Cup for a record 34 matches in the Tournament, the last time Australia were defeated in a World Cup match was back in 1999 against Pakistan, this streak was broken again by Pakistan in the 2011 Cricket World Cup.

The team song is "Under the Southern Cross I Stand", which is sung by the players after every victory and "treated with reverential consideration and respect" within the team.[49] The official lyrics are as follows, though when it is sung by the players, the word "little" in the last line is replaced by "bloody" or an expletive.

The authorship of this "Under the Southern Cross I Stand" is credited to former wicketkeeper Rod Marsh, who was apparently inspired by Henry Lawson's 1887 poem, "Flag of the Southern Cross".[49] Marsh initially had the role of leading the team in singing it, and on his retirement he passed it on to Allan Border. The other players to have taken on the role are David Boon (when Border took over the captaincy), Ian Healy (on Boon's retirement), Ricky Ponting (on Healy's retirement), Justin Langer (when Ponting took over the captaincy). The role was then passed on to Michael Hussey, who took it on when Langer retired in January 2007. At Hussey's retirement on 6 January 2013, he announced that he would be handing the duties over to Nathan Lyon.[51]